Bank transfer day today !! (mortgages, go bankrupt, law)

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The best local CU's are not actually local. But because of your deployment(s), neither are you!

Pentagon Federal: They were one of several military affiliated CU's who were prepared to front paychecks to members when there was a threat of Gov't shutdown. (Navy was another). The best gas rewards card available (5% cashback). They are conservative initially, but if your credit is good you are in. Once you show them you are responsible the sky is the limit. By far my highest credit limits are with Penfed.

Navy Federal: What can I say about Navy... They have THE BEST customer service out there. Banking services are all good, not great but good. Their claim to fame is working with their members to get the job done. High limits available with limited or mediocre credit history.

Alliant Credit Union: Based out of Chicago, they are not a military CU (they started out life as United Airlines employees CU) but I can't say enough how fantastic they are. No gotcha fee's, high (for these days) APY's on savings and checking (1.144 and 1.094 respectively) Great customer service. Huge ATM network (30,000 in-network) Shared branching for those who aren't local, eDeposit (scanned check deposit). Limited mobile banking (can do everything except transfer money). Alliant's biggest strength is their ACH services. Free unlimited in and out next day transfers up to $100k per day. They are a terrific hub that tie all your financial institutions together.

As far as local CU's are concerned, avoid Nevada Federal CU (now One Nevada CU), Clark county CU is OK but nothing really great. I belong to Silver State Schools CU and although they were once great to work with, I can't really recommend them now days. Currently my local CU is America First CU based out of Utah but with 8 local branches. So far they have been really good.

A couple things about CU's:

First, one of the things that make a CU a CU is it's members must have common interest. That can be living in a certain area, working for certain companies or belonging to certain organizations. With Penfed and Navy it's military affiliation (Navy is much more strict, you must be active or retired, Penfed is more lax, in fact you don't even need to be military. You can simply be a member of National Military Family's Association) With Alliant, if you don't live in Chicago you can simply join local or national PTA or Foster Care for Success.

Second, deposit account insurance. All federally chartered CU's must be insured by NCUA (the federal equivalent to FDIC, same $250k protection etc). State chartered CU's have the option of insuring their deposits with either NCUA or a private insurance company (like ASI, American Share Insurance). Locally Silver State Schools CU and Clark County CU use ASI.

I belong to other CU's for various reasons but Penfed, Navy and Alliant stand out as excellent.

Another great military option is USAA. They are neither a bank nor a CU (technically they are a "savings bank" somewhere between a bank and a CU). They have a very good reputation amongst the military community.

I hope this helps!

Thanks for the detailed post. I almost forgot about USAA which I have had for over 9 years now. Great bank. Never ever met a physical person from that bank yet they have provided more services than any other branch I have been with. My mortgage, car/home insurance and MMA is through them. Now that I think of it, I also have 3 other online based banks that I use for investing, insurance, savings and purchasing stocks.

Never had any complaints with any of them. Staying strictly online maybe the way to go.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ft_chief

I would vouch for Navy Federal Credit Union as being one of the best and largest. I have been a member for over 20yrs and throughout my Navy career overseas. They have excellent customer service and have all online services as the big banks. Since you are Air Force, you can join. They have branches nationwide and overseas. Check them out!

Couple of my co-workers bank with them. Heard lots of good things and maybe one or two bad things. Do they charge for using/ordering checks? I remember hearing something to that nature as far as the bad.

"As a former employee and former long term member of USAA, I completely agree with the many negative complaints shared on insiderpages.com. Customer Service is non-existent at this organization. How can one service a member when all you're doing is figuring out a way to get more money out of them? I hate the fact that this organization preys on the military tradition and proclaims that they are there for them in their time of need. They really should add fine print that says "as long as it is convenient to us, we'll always be there."

All we need is for banking with a small bank to have the same social cachet a designer bags and German cars, and BoA, sChitibank and WF will lose even more weight.

Still, 650K isn't bad for a movement that got next to no traction in newspapers and TV news. And while $4.5 billion less in deposits isn't enough for Wall Street to pop a monocle, Main Street needs all the deposits it can get. That's their main source for lending money to small business. Which is what we need most desperately right now.

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